...and ich.
We haven't mentioned quarantine for a while in the newbie forum, so let me do it.
1. quarantine is not to protect your fish so much as it is to protect your TANK---remember that glass box you invested so much care in getting started? Don't screw it up.
2. quarantine all fishes from the very first fish. Never mind the inverts. The fish are the ones ich attacks.
3. NEVER count on medicating in your display. Medication must be done in a hospital tank.
4. a quarantine tank is not cycled, has no live rock or sand, and uses only PVC pipe for shelter. You can use a plain floss filter WITH carbon in a quarantine tank. You must withdraw the carbon if it becomes a hospital tank or it will take the medication out of the water.
5. if you ever use nets, hose, thermometers, etc in a coppered tank, mark them clearly in something that will never fade and NEVER use those things in your display tank or let them mix with your other gear. COpper is a poison: the only way it works is by killing the ich before it kills your fish.
6. if you discover ich in your tank the standard treatment is to catch all fish and put them either in hypo or under copper treatment in a hospital tank. All fish. If you have a mandarin, it is going to cost you a fortune in bought pods. You have to leave that tank fishless for 6-8 weeks to allow the ich to starve to death, because it has reproduced into your sandbed. Think of it as lethal fleas.
There are those who opt to leave ich infested fish in a very big tank in the theory they had rather lose all their fish than move that rock chasing them down... or they are too big to quarantine. Some fish do survive or get over it, and feeding pureed real garlic mixed in their food can help, but you risk losing every single fish you own and STILL having to leave your tank fishless for 8 weeks. If only one fish survives, you should wait, imho, 3 MONTHS before buying a new fish---and just cross your fingers it won't start another outbreak. If you're smart, you'll qt this new fish and not take a chance. Maybe the pest will have died out. Maybe it won't. Some fish are able to throw it off. After a number of months, you will be safer and safer, but that is not the recommended procedure. SAFEST is to qt every fish every time. I make one exception, for obligate specialty feeders, like mandarins, etc. In that instance, you hope it's an ich-resistent species, you roll the dice, you bet your whole tank it's not carrying it, and you just cross your fingers for the next 4 weeks that it doesn't show up. Your chances of dodging the bullet are better if said fish has been at 1.021 salinity for a couple of months at the lfs before you buy it, and is observably in healthy, even immaculate condition...but again...it is a risk, and you should know what you risk: every fish you've got.
This is why it is the goal of reef-keepers to get a good healthy fish population going and safe and well and NOT to go on adding fish. Play fish-hotel, or new-catch-of-the-week, or buy a fish the first few days it's at your lfs, without quarantine, and sooner or later you will meet this disease---probably sooner, since it is very, very, very, very common in fish stores.
Hate to be a prophet of doom, but I'd rather warn ahead of time and let people know what the choices are. The first choice is the best. Period.
We haven't mentioned quarantine for a while in the newbie forum, so let me do it.
1. quarantine is not to protect your fish so much as it is to protect your TANK---remember that glass box you invested so much care in getting started? Don't screw it up.
2. quarantine all fishes from the very first fish. Never mind the inverts. The fish are the ones ich attacks.
3. NEVER count on medicating in your display. Medication must be done in a hospital tank.
4. a quarantine tank is not cycled, has no live rock or sand, and uses only PVC pipe for shelter. You can use a plain floss filter WITH carbon in a quarantine tank. You must withdraw the carbon if it becomes a hospital tank or it will take the medication out of the water.
5. if you ever use nets, hose, thermometers, etc in a coppered tank, mark them clearly in something that will never fade and NEVER use those things in your display tank or let them mix with your other gear. COpper is a poison: the only way it works is by killing the ich before it kills your fish.
6. if you discover ich in your tank the standard treatment is to catch all fish and put them either in hypo or under copper treatment in a hospital tank. All fish. If you have a mandarin, it is going to cost you a fortune in bought pods. You have to leave that tank fishless for 6-8 weeks to allow the ich to starve to death, because it has reproduced into your sandbed. Think of it as lethal fleas.
There are those who opt to leave ich infested fish in a very big tank in the theory they had rather lose all their fish than move that rock chasing them down... or they are too big to quarantine. Some fish do survive or get over it, and feeding pureed real garlic mixed in their food can help, but you risk losing every single fish you own and STILL having to leave your tank fishless for 8 weeks. If only one fish survives, you should wait, imho, 3 MONTHS before buying a new fish---and just cross your fingers it won't start another outbreak. If you're smart, you'll qt this new fish and not take a chance. Maybe the pest will have died out. Maybe it won't. Some fish are able to throw it off. After a number of months, you will be safer and safer, but that is not the recommended procedure. SAFEST is to qt every fish every time. I make one exception, for obligate specialty feeders, like mandarins, etc. In that instance, you hope it's an ich-resistent species, you roll the dice, you bet your whole tank it's not carrying it, and you just cross your fingers for the next 4 weeks that it doesn't show up. Your chances of dodging the bullet are better if said fish has been at 1.021 salinity for a couple of months at the lfs before you buy it, and is observably in healthy, even immaculate condition...but again...it is a risk, and you should know what you risk: every fish you've got.
This is why it is the goal of reef-keepers to get a good healthy fish population going and safe and well and NOT to go on adding fish. Play fish-hotel, or new-catch-of-the-week, or buy a fish the first few days it's at your lfs, without quarantine, and sooner or later you will meet this disease---probably sooner, since it is very, very, very, very common in fish stores.
Hate to be a prophet of doom, but I'd rather warn ahead of time and let people know what the choices are. The first choice is the best. Period.
